Author | Helen Fielding |
---|---|
Cover artist | Nick Turpin [1] |
Language | English |
Genre | Romantic comedy, Chick lit |
Publisher | Picador |
Publication date | 1996 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
ISBN | 0-670-88072-8 |
OCLC | 38884462 |
823/.914 21 | |
LC Class | PR6056.I4588 B75 1998 |
Followed by | The Edge of Reason (1999) |
Bridget Jones's Diary is a 1996 novel by Helen Fielding. Written in the form of a personal diary, the novel chronicles a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a thirty-something single working woman living in London. She writes about her career, self-image, vices, family, friends, and romantic relationships.
By 2006, the book had sold over two million copies worldwide. [2] Critics have credited Fielding's novel as the "ur-text" of the contemporary chick lit movement. [3] A sequel, The Edge of Reason , was published in 1999, and two further novels, Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy and Bridget Jones's Baby, were published in 2013 and 2016 respectively. The original novel was adapted into a popular 2001 film, and later developed into a series with the latest sequel set to release in 2025.
The plot is focused on Bridget's love life. She regularly worries about dying being eaten by dogs when her singleness causes her death not to be discovered promptly, an obsession that a USA Today reviewer called "one of [Bridget's] more cheerful daydreams". [4] However, during the course of the year, she becomes involved in two romantic relationships. The first is with her charming and handsome boss Daniel Cleaver, who eventually cheats on Bridget with a younger, more conventionally attractive woman. Bridget's second relationship is with the stuffy human-rights barrister Mark Darcy, whom she initially dislikes when they are reintroduced at a New Year's party where her mother reminds them they were childhood playmates. These two men are connected by more than their relationship with Bridget, as Fielding reveals near the end of the novel.
Bridget not only obsesses about her love life, but also details her various daily struggles with her weight, her over-indulgence in alcohol and cigarettes, and her career. Bridget's friends and family are the supporting characters in her diary. Her friends are there for her unconditionally throughout the novel; they give her advice about her relationships, and support when problems arise. Her friends are essentially her surrogate family in London.
Bridget's parents live outside of the city and, while they play a lesser role than her friends, they are important figures in Bridget's life. Her mother is an overconfident, doting woman who is constantly trying to marry Bridget off to a rich, handsome man; and her father is considerably more down-to-earth, though he is sometimes driven into uncharacteristically unstable states of mind by his wife.
Bridget often visits her parents, as well as her parents' friends, primarily Geoffrey and Una Alconbury; Geoffrey creates a mildly uncomfortable situation for Bridget by insisting she call him "Uncle Geoffrey" despite his propensity for groping her rear end whenever they meet. In these situations, Bridget is often plagued with that perennial question "How's your love life?" and exposed to the eccentricities of middle class British society, manifested in turkey curry buffets and tarts and vicars parties at which the women wear sexually provocative ("tart") costumes, while the men dress as Anglican priests ("vicars").
This novel evolved from Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary columns in The Independent and The Daily Telegraph . [5] Fielding devised the novel with the help of Independent journalist Charles Leadbeater; [6] it is roughly based on Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice . [7] As a columnist, Fielding often lampooned society's obsession with women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan and criticised wider societal trends in Britain at the time.
The novel was first published in 1996 by the U.K. publisher; it became an international success. As of 2006, the book had sold over two million copies worldwide. [2] A sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason , was published in 1999, and two further novels, Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy and Bridget Jones's Baby, were published in 2013 and 2016 respectively.
The novel won the 1998 British Book of the Year, [8] and Tracie Bennett won the 2000 Audie Award for "Solo Female Narration" for her audiobook narration. [9] In 2003, the novel was listed at number 75 on the BBC's survey The Big Read. [10]
A film adaptation of the novel was released in 2001. The film stars Renée Zellweger (in an Academy Award nominated role) as the eponymous heroine, Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver, and Colin Firth as Mark Darcy. It was directed by Sharon Maguire (Helen Fielding's friend who was the inspiration for Shazzer) and the screenplay was written by Fielding, Andrew Davies, and Richard Curtis.
A musical version was in the works, with the show due to open in London's West End in 2012, although this never happened. British pop singer Lily Allen wrote the score and lyrics, and Stephen Daldry was said to be directing, joined by his co-worker Peter Darling, who would have served as choreographer. An official cast for the production was never finalised, but workshops for the show did begin with TV actress and star of Legally Blonde the Musical, Sheridan Smith, in the title role. [11] Allen stated in 2014 that while the musical was finished, it was unlikely to see the light of day.
On 5 November 2019, the BBC included Bridget Jones's Diary on its list of the 100 most inspiring novels. [12]
Pride and Prejudice is the second novel by English author Jane Austen, published in 1813. A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of the book, who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness.
Colin Andrew Firth is an English actor and producer. He is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2011, Firth was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and appeared in Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, often known simply as Tom Jones, is a comic novel by English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding. It is a Bildungsroman and a picaresque novel. It was first published on 28 February 1749 in London and is among the earliest English works to be classified as a novel. It is the earliest novel mentioned by W. Somerset Maugham in his 1948 book Great Novelists and Their Novels among the ten best novels of the world.
Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, she was one of the world's highest-paid actresses by 2007.
Andrew Wynford Davies is a Welsh screenwriter and novelist, best known for his television adaptations of To Serve Them All My Days, House of Cards, Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House, War & Peace, and his original serial A Very Peculiar Practice. He was made a BAFTA Fellow in 2002.
James Broadbent is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He has received various accolades including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, an International Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award.
Helen Fielding is a British journalist, novelist and screenwriter, best known as the creator of the fictional character Bridget Jones. Fielding’s first novel was set in a refugee camp in East Africa and she started writing Bridget Jones in an anonymous column in London’s Independent newspaper. This turned into an unexpected hit, leading to four Bridget Jones novels and three movies, with a fourth movie announced in April 2024 for release in 2025.
Bridget Rose Jones is a fictional character created by British writer Helen Fielding. Jones first appeared in Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary column in The Independent in 1995, which did not carry any byline. Thus, it seemed to be an actual personal diary chronicling the life of Jones as a thirtysomething single woman in London as she tries to make sense of life, love, and relationships with the help of a surrogate "urban family" of friends in the 1990s. The column was, in fact, a lampoon of women's obsession with love, marriage and romance as well as women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan and wider social trends in Britain at the time. Fielding published the novelisation of the column in 1996, followed by a sequel in 1999 called The Edge of Reason.
Pride and Prejudice is a six-episode 1995 British television drama, adapted by Andrew Davies from Jane Austen's 1813 novel of the same name. Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth starred as Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, respectively. Produced by Sue Birtwistle and directed by Simon Langton, the serial was a BBC production with additional funding from the American A&E Network. BBC1 originally broadcast the 55-minute episodes from 24 September to 29 October 1995. The A&E Network aired the series in double episodes on three consecutive nights beginning 14 January 1996.
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is a 2004 romantic comedy film directed by Beeban Kidron from a screenplay by Andrew Davies, Helen Fielding, Richard Curtis and Adam Brooks. The sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and the second installment in the Bridget Jones film series, it is based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Fielding. The film stars Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones.
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is a 1999 novel by Helen Fielding, a sequel to her popular Bridget Jones' Diary. It chronicles Bridget Jones's adventures after she begins to suspect that her boyfriend, Mark Darcy, is falling for a rich young solicitor who works in the same firm as him, a woman called Rebecca. The comic novel follows the characteristic ups and downs of the self-proclaimed singleton's first real relationship in several years. It also involves many misunderstandings, a few work mishaps, and an adventure in Southeast Asia involving planted drugs and Madonna songs.
Darcy, Darci or Darcey may refer to:
Bridget Jones's Diary is a 2001 romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire from a screenplay by Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis. It is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Fielding. The film stars Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones, a 32-year-old British single woman who writes a diary, which focuses on the things she wishes to happen in her life. However, her life changes when two men vie for her affection, portrayed by Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones appear in supporting roles.
Charles Leadbeater, also known as Charlie Leadbeater, is a British author and former advisor to Tony Blair.
Fitzwilliam Darcy Esquire, generally referred to as Mr. Darcy, is one of the two central characters in Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. He is an archetype of the aloof romantic hero, and a romantic interest of Elizabeth Bennet, the novel's protagonist. The story's narration is almost exclusively from Elizabeth's perspective; the reader is given a one-sided view of Darcy for much of the novel, but hints are given throughout that there is much more to his character than meets the eye. The reader gets a healthy dose of dramatic irony as Elizabeth continually censures Mr. Darcy's character despite the aforementioned hints that Mr. Darcy is really a noble character at heart, albeit somewhat prideful. Usually referred to only as "Mr. Darcy" or "Darcy" by characters and the narrator, his first name is mentioned twice in the novel.
Kathleen Jeannette Halton Tynan was a Canadian-British journalist, author, and screenwriter.
Bridget Jones's Diary is a musical with music and lyrics by Lily Allen, Greg Kurstin, and Karen Poole. The play is based on the 1996 book by Helen Fielding and the 2001 film of the same name. The show was in development around 2009–2010 and has had several workshop readings, but no full performances.
Bridget Jones's Baby is a 2016 romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire from a screenplay by Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson, based on a story by Fielding. It is the sequel to Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and the third installment in the Bridget Jones film series. The film once again stars Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones, who is shocked when she finds out she is pregnant and must deduce which of her two recent loves is the father, lawyer Mark Darcy or mathematician Jack Qwant, all while trying to hide one from the other. The film marked Zellweger's return to the screen after a six-year hiatus.
The Bridget Jones film series consists of romantic comedy films based on the book series of the same name by Helen Fielding. Starring Renée Zellweger in the title role, with an ensemble supporting cast, the films follow the life events of primary characters Bridget Jones, Mark Darcy, and Daniel Cleaver and explores their respective relationships.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is an upcoming romantic comedy film directed by Michael Morris from a screenplay by Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Abi Morgan. The sequel to Bridget Jones's Baby (2016) and the fourth installment in the Bridget Jones film series, it is based on the 2013 novel by Fielding. Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and Emma Thompson reprise their roles as Bridget Jones, Daniel Cleaver, Mark Darcy and Doctor Rawlings, respectively, from previous installments, with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Isla Fisher, Josette Simon, Nico Parker and Leila Farzad joining the cast.
The reveal kickstarts the BBC's year-long celebration of literature.